“I would gather leaves and swamp-muck, and use them for bedding the cows and pigs. Leaves make splendid bedding, and they make rich manure, and the cow-dung and leaves, when made into a pile, will ferment readily, and make grand manure for—anything. I only wish I had all I could use.”
There is no question but what cow-manure is better if fermented, but it is not always convenient to pile it during the winter in such a way that it will not freeze. And in this case it may be the better plan to draw it out on to the land, as opportunity offers.
“I have heard,” said Charley, “that pig-manure was not good for cabbage, it produces ‘fingers and toes,’ or club-foot.”
Possibly such is the case when there is a predisposition to the disease, but our German friend says he has never found any ill-effects from its use.
“Cows,” said the Doctor, “when giving a large quantity of milk, make rather poor manure. The manure loses what the milk takes from the food.”
“We have shown what that loss is,” said I. “It amounts to less than I think is generally supposed. And in the winter, when the cows are dry, the manure would be as rich as from oxen, provided both were fed alike. See Appendix, page 342. It will there be seen that oxen take out only 4.1 lbs. of nitrogen from 100 lbs. of nitrogen consumed in the food. In other words, provided there is no loss, we should get in the liquid and solid excrements of the ox and dry cow 95.9 per cent of the nitrogen furnished in the food, and a still higher per cent of the mineral matter.”
SHEEP-MANURE.
According to Prof. Wolff’s table of analyses, sheep-manure, both solid and liquid, contain less water than the manure from horses, cows, or swine. With the exception of swine, the solid dung is also the richest in nitrogen, while the urine of sheep is pre-eminently rich in nitrogen and potash.
These facts are in accordance with the general opinions of farmers. Sheep-manure is considered, next to hen-manure, the most valuable manure made on the farm.
I do not think we have any satisfactory evidence to prove that 3 tons of clover-hay and a ton of corn fed to a lot of fattening-sheep will afford a quantity of manure containing any more plant-food than the same kind and amount of food fed to a lot of fattening-cattle. The experiments of Lawes & Gilbert indicate that if there is any difference it is in favor of the ox. See Appendix, page 343. But it may well be that it is much easier to save the manure from the sheep than from the cattle. And so, practically, sheep may be better manure-makers than cattle—for the simple reason that less of the urine is lost.